Does Pomona match financial aid offers?

<p>I received my acceptance about a week ago and while the financial aid package Pomona offered me was generous, it wasn't quite as much what some other schools offered. Rice, Vanderbilt, and Cornell would all be anywhere from 5k to 10k cheaper per year in terms of expected family contribution. Pomona is pretty much my top choice right now and I do plan on visiting on one of the admit days. I don't really have any changes of financial circumstances since submitting my financial aid documents so I don't know if I could appeal. Would Pomona consider matching offers from other schools?</p>

<p>It’s possible. Pomona is generally pretty good about this stuff. </p>

<p>It doesn’t hurt to ask, so I would recommend calling the Financial Aid office before your visit.</p>

<p>Most schools will consider matching offers from peer schools. I don’t think they match to merit aid since they offer need based only, but if those other schools calculated your EFC differently I think it’s definitely worth it to ask.</p>

<p>Our need based EFC’s were all pretty similar - I think Pomona was just a bit lower than some… but only maybe 1000? for 5K I’d definitely ask.</p>

<p>Thanks for the input guys. I called two days ago and the person I spoke to told me that they don’t typically have a policy of matching offers from other schools so no luck there. He asked me if I would like to take out loans or look for outside scholarships. Also, he said I could try filing an appeal and make an appointment to talk to the financial aid officers in person at one of the admit days so I think I will try to do that.</p>

<p>Anyone have experience asking Pomona to review financial aid offer? How long did it take them to come back with an answer? I emailed them a few days ago – just curious.</p>